Chichirivichie
A popular expensive beach town, dirty and not that attractive (population of about 7,000)
So we are dropped off at 4:30 pm on a hot dirty street full of tacky shops and people staring at us like we are fresh meat.
No quite true but it felt like it at the time. As Brent said our unique back packs are like Gucci bags to them.
We once again stop on a safe corner and regroup. We get out the Footprints book and look up the Posada we want to stay at. Now it becomes slightly difficult. It is later in the day and there is only about 2 hrs of day light left. We see an address in the book but there are no street signs (as they have all been stolen for scrap metal). Eventually we keep walking and see signs for hotels and then we caught a glimpse of the ocean. Now we feel better. The first hotel says that they wanted $150 Bolivar which is about $73.50 US for the night. We thought what happened to cheap and left. Next found one for $40 US a night and then settled on one for $30 a night. It was on the main strip and part of a store that sold general goods and pastries. PS We never found the posada we were looking for until our 5th day there.
A popular expensive beach town, dirty and not that attractive (population of about 7,000)
So we are dropped off at 4:30 pm on a hot dirty street full of tacky shops and people staring at us like we are fresh meat.
No quite true but it felt like it at the time. As Brent said our unique back packs are like Gucci bags to them.
We once again stop on a safe corner and regroup. We get out the Footprints book and look up the Posada we want to stay at. Now it becomes slightly difficult. It is later in the day and there is only about 2 hrs of day light left. We see an address in the book but there are no street signs (as they have all been stolen for scrap metal). Eventually we keep walking and see signs for hotels and then we caught a glimpse of the ocean. Now we feel better. The first hotel says that they wanted $150 Bolivar which is about $73.50 US for the night. We thought what happened to cheap and left. Next found one for $40 US a night and then settled on one for $30 a night. It was on the main strip and part of a store that sold general goods and pastries. PS We never found the posada we were looking for until our 5th day there.
We settle in and look for food and a few beers to take the edge off. $38 US dollars later we knew this was not a cheap place to stay but there was a party in the streets that night.
By the next morning we met a guy named Vicki who spoke English and was a self proclaimed tour guide who likes the sauce. He assisted us in getting a cheaper room with use of the kitchen ($20 per night at the Posada el Negro)
Day 24
7-Jun
Coffee
$3.00
Bus
$6.50
Water
$2.50
Taxi
$12.50
Bus
$12.00
Bus
$15.00
Gatorade
$1.00
Bathroom charges X 3
$1.50
Dinner
$20.00
Hotel
$30.00
Beers
$10.00
Liquor
$8.00
$122.00
Day 25
8-Jun
Hotel
$30.00
Breakfast
$7.00
Tour guide
$5.00
Beers
$5.00
Lunch
$8.00
Beer and a cooler
$19.00
Dinner
$10.00
$84.00
Day 26
9-Jun
Coconut Rum
$15.00
Hotel
$20.00
Food for week
$44.00
Beer
$2.50
Flamingos
$20.00
2 time food for week
$30.00
$131.50
Day 27
10-Jun
Hotel
$20.00
Internet
$1.50
Medication
$3.00
Cookies
$1.50
$26.00
Day 28
11-Jun
Hotel
$20.00
Internet
$1.50
Cookies
$1.00
$22.50
Day 29
12-Jun
Hotel
$20.00
Juice
$2.00
Internet
$1.50
Internet
$23.50
and giving us a lot of info on where things are and how things work. His fee was $5 US and a beer- Not bad.
Vicki had told us that the town is expensive even for the locals so we bought groceries and laid low getting the hang of the lingo, banking, internet and discovering the next major leg of our journey.
This town has good people in it but it has garbage laying everywhere and many dogs and cats that run the streets.
For the most part the town appears to be trying to clean up and the inside of peoples homes seem to be well kept it is just the outside streets no one is taking care of.
On the North beach it can be difficult to locate an area of the beach that is not full of garbage but when you do the ocean is clean and full of soft sand to walk out on.
On the Wednesday of our stay we decided to walk to the other end of town and go to south beach. This was about a 1 hr walk but well worth it. We were the only ones on the beach other than a few people fishing. The views were great and the quietness was excellent. Under the water there was sand but it was laced with stiff short foliage and scattered star fish, still very pleasant!
There are three main islands (Los Muertos, Cayo Sombrero, Paiclas) that you can go to for the day to beach it. $30 to $45 US for a boat so get in with others!
At long last a really cool thing this town has is pink Flamingos. We took a cab $10 US each way back to the main road where the Flamingos are located. Our driver tried hard to get us as close as possible to the birds and find the biggest flocks. It was truly worth paying the cash, although it would have been free if we had the bikes.
I must comment on the taxis. They get the gas for almost free for example an entire tank of gas is only 2 US max. The cars are old and have been paid for with cash. So why 20 US of a 10 minute drive?
We want to see more so we are off to Puerto Columbia or Choroni (the locals know it better as).
I would say you can skip Chichiriviche if you simply want the highlights.
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